Official Report on Gorbachev Dismissal

By
Reuters /
August 20, 1991

MOSCOW

FOLLOWING is the full text of a report published yesterday by the official news agency Tass announcing the imposition of a state of emergency in some parts of the Soviet Union. The Tass report quoted a statement from the Soviet leadership:The Soviet leadership today declared a state of emergency in parts of the country, the unconditional supremacy of the federal Constitution and legislation throughout the land, and the formation of a State Committee for the State of Emergency to govern the nation. The statement said that: * In view of Mikhail Gorbachev's inability to perform the duties of the federal president and the transfer of federal presidential powers, in keeping with Paragraph 7, Article 127, of the USSR Constitution, to Vice President Gennady Yanayev; * With the aim of overcoming the profound and comprehensive crisis; political, ethnic, and civil strife; chaos, and anarchy that threaten the lives and security of the Soviet Union's citizens and its sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom, and independence; * Proceeding from the results of the popular referendum on the preservation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and guided by the vital interests of all ethnic groups in the country and all Soviet people, the Soviet leadership resolves: 1. In accordance with Paragraph 3, Article 127, of the USSR Constitution and Article 2 of the USSR law on state of emergency regulations and with demands by broad popular masses to adopt the most decisive measures to prevent society from sliding into national catastrophe and ensure law and order, to impose a state of emergency in some parts of the Soviet Union for six months from 4 a.m. Moscow time on Aug. 19, 1991. 2. To establish that the federal Constitution and laws have unconditional priority throughout the territory of the USSR. 3. To form a State Committee for the State of Emergency in order to run the country and effectively exercise the state of emergency regime, consisting of: O. D. Baklanov, first deputy chairman of the USSR Defense Council, V. A. Kryuchkov, chairman of the KGB, V. S. Pavlov, prime minister of the USSR, B. K. Pugo, interior minister of the USSR, V. A. Starodubtsev, chairman of the Farmers' Union of the USSR, A. I. Tizyakov, president of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Tra nsport and Communications Facilities of the USSR, D. T. Yazov, defense minister of the USSR, G. I. Yanayev, acting president of the USSR. 4. To establish that the State Committee for the State of Emergency's decisions are mandatory for unswerving fulfillment by all agencies of power and administration, officials, and citizens throughout the territory of the USSR. The Soviet leadership's statement was signed by Yanayev, Pavlov, and Baklanov.